A Model of Spontaneous Remission from Addiction

This article develops a formal model of spontaneous recovery from pathological addiction. It regards addiction as a progressive susceptibility to stochastic environmental cues and introduce a cognitive appraisal process in individual decision making depending on past addiction experiences and on their future expected consequences. This process affects consumption choices in two ways. The reward from use decreases with age. At the same time, cognitive incentives emerge that reduce the probability of making mistakes. In addition to modeling the role of cue-triggered mistakes in individual decision making, the analysis highlights the role of other factors such as subjective self-evaluation and cognitive control. The implications for social policy and for the treatment of drug and alcohol dependence are discussed.